Trust
by ashangel101010
Summary: Duman decides to play a trick on Gantlos, but the trick affects Gantlos in a way that Duman did not expect.


Trust

Suggested Themes:

Main Themes- The Memory Will Never Die by Default, Decretum from Madoka Magica

Duman is a shape-shifter. He can change his form into any magical creature, person, or even object as he so desires. He doesn't do it often because it drains his magic. He knew from experience back from his time in the circus when the Fairy Ringmaster would force him to transform for amusement of the sadistic peasants. Duman estimated that he was about eleven when Ogron came and freed him from the Fairy Ringmaster; he even helped give Duman his name. Together, they slaughtered her and burned the circus to the ground. It wasn't until Duman was thirteen and beginning puberty that he finally found someone who was almost an exact replica of him. Anagan and Gantlos joined their "family" after Ogron and Duman almost killed Anagan and Gantlos for trying to rob them. Yet, they (really, Anagan) explained to Ogron and Duman that they were born with their powers and hated the Earth Fairies too. After that, they (the future Wizards of the Black Circle) decided to set camp together and dine together. Of course, Duman and Gantlos went out to hunt for some meat. Duman loved how Gantlos would "play" with his prey. Gantlos would send a seismic wave to the ground and make a deer fall to the ground, and then do it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again until the prey is too shaken to even try and stand up. Gantlos would them take the prey's head into his hands and then send one last, destructive seismic wave that would break the prey's bones. Duman couldn't see Gantlos's eyes because of the helmet, but the bone chilling smirk on his face made Duman feel understood by Gantlos.

It has been six months since that day, and Duman and Gantlos have separated from the group to go on a hunt. The hunt is not for a Fairy, at least not right now, but for food and entertainment. Ogron and Anagan are back in the city, as far from the wilderness as possible. Ogron is most likely reading and deciphering some new spell book, while Anagan is probably flirting up a storm with some floozies. Now, the hunting trip is going excellent in the sense that there was plenty of food for weeks, but at the same time it is a failure in Duman's crinkling, golden eyes. Duman is not entertained because of Gantlos. Gantlos has been doing all the killing during this hunt like he doesn't trust Duman to be competent. Today, Duman was incredibly closed to finally killing a buck on the hunting trip when Gantlos intervened. Duman was in his wolf form and had succeeded in breaking a leg of the buck and was about to break its neck until Gantlos showed up with a dead deer over his shoulder and used his seismic wave to break the buck's neck. He didn't even bother to toy with the buck! Of course, Duman decided not to complain to Gantlos about it because he doesn't want Gantlos to think that he is whiney. Plus, he's almost positive that Gantlos may snap his neck if he complains.

Duman glares at Gantlos's sleeping form. He envies the young man. He envies everything about him. He envies how muscular and fit Gantlos is, while Duman is gangly and awkward. He envies how Gantlos's blonde hair is perfectly tamed, while Duman's hair is just a pink Mohawk. He envies how Gantlos can kill without getting injured, while Duman has to lick his own wounds. He envies how Gantlos has a devastatingly, handsome face, while Duman knows he looks like a mix of an ugly duckling and a grouchy crow. He envies Gantlos more than he does with Ogron because Gantlos is practically not letting him hunt! Duman feels vindictive enough to play a mean trick on Gantlos. Now, Duman has a faint inkling about what he wants to do to Gantlos. He wants to scare Gantlos, but he doesn't know what Gantlos's fears. Duman knows that Ogron is afraid of death, while Anagan is afraid of poison. Yet, Gantlos has never confessed or showed fear before Duman, or really anyone before. Duman thought about shifting into a hideous vulture or a dragon and attack Gantlos in his sleep, but he remembers that Gantlos would use his seismic waves and break most of Duman's bones. Duman frowns and decides to take a late night stroll into the forest.

The forest is such a marvelous creation by God, or at least that is what Ogron told him once. Duman loves how the forest is filled with death. Every autumn the trees would lose their dying leaves, causing the leaves to be eventually turned into fertilizer upon death. Duman is pretty certain, considering how vast and old the forest is, that plenty of people have died here. He can picture some poor little girl getting lost in the forest during winter and freezing to death; he smiles as he pictures her perfectly preserved corpse. Duman imagines another scenario where some stupid boy gets lost in the forest and starves to death. Duman nearly laughs at the bones protruding through the imaginary boy's skin. Then, Duman grins mischievously like a deranged bat. What is scarier than some starved corpse of a kid that suddenly shifts into someone you know? Gantlos won't strike him when that happens, or at least hit too hard. Now, all Duman has to do is find the right spot where to play his nasty, little trick. The forest is a fine place, but it lacks an exotic element. Duman continues to wander, and wander, and wander, and wander until he spots a structure.

The structure is a church made of stone, white stones to be exact. It looks old to Duman because the stones' color is dirty from years of bearing the elements. Duman smirks like an evil demon. Duman strolls inside because there are no doors barring him. Inside the church, there is just a stone pulpit and a stone bench. Duman finds it…..odd about the arrangement of the church. The place is empty, but shouldn't there be more than one pew at least? Yet, the place is eerie enough to create a scary atmosphere. Now, Duman just have to think about what kind of starving person he should look like. He could turn into some hag, but Gantlos would probably laugh at the hag's ugliness and Duman hates being laughed at. He could turn into some pathetic kid, but Gantlos hates children. Inwardly, Duman has always wondered if Gantlos hates him because he is the youngest out of the group. Duman frowns, he has no time to be pondering about what goes on in Gantlos's mind. Gantlos, he can change into a starved version of Gantlos! What's scarier than seeing yourself almost half-dead from starvation? All Duman has to do is wait for Gantlos to come and find him. Gantlos has to find him or else he'll have to deal with a furious Ogron. Duman knows his animal senses will allow him to hear Gantlos from a mile away, so he'll just have to wait and then transform once Gantlos is close enough. Soon Gantlos will get what's coming to him, and Duman will get to laugh at how embarrassed Gantlos will be like Gantlos probably did behind his back.

Gantlos wakes up once sunlight hits him like a double-edged sword. Gantlos is actually a morning person, but he dislikes direct sunlight which is why he wears his helmet. He got the helmet from a fairly strong knight that he was barely able to kill, this was shortly after he met Anagan. He notices that Duman was missing. The pink-haired shape-shifter is long gone as Gantlos could tell by the incredibly faint imprint on Duman's side of the ground. Gantlos frowns, he has a feeling that Duman probably decided to blow off some steam by wandering around in the forest. Gantlos sighs like he has destroyed an enemy that he thought was powerful but turned out to be fairly feeble. Duman is most likely acting like any frustrated boy would be, Gantlos thinks and knows how he has treated Duman during the hunt. He has treated Duman like a child that needs help in everything. Duman is a child, most certainly in Gantlos's eyes even if his mind tends to question that, but he has powers that no mere child should have. Duman is a shape-shifter, he can be anything or anyone he wants to be. Unfortunately, Gantlos knows that shape-shifting drains Duman's magic. The poor lad sometimes knocks himself out when he shape-shifts too much.

Duman has killed before, he is a hunter and a killer like Gantlos. Unfortunately, Duman is impatient by nature. Duman is strong, but reckless. Gantlos has seen Duman transform into strong beasts and kill countless times, but he also gets to see Duman get injured every time. Gantlos is fine with that except when it comes to this particular hunt now. Their prey are strong bucks that could easily gouge Duman. Duman would have died if Gantlos hadn't been intervening this entire hunt. Gantlos doesn't want Duman to die even if it means that the lad feels humiliated in being rescued. Gantlos puts on his helmet and decides to find Duman. Gantlos is an excellent tracker which is one of the reasons why he is such an excellent hunter. It takes him a few hours to finally find Duman, or at least where the shape-shifter is hiding. Duman is hiding in an abandon church. Gantlos is harboring suspicions that this church belonged to some fanatical cult from a long time ago. Gantlos can feel Duman's magic inside the church, yet he scopes the area to make sure there was no hidden traps or interlopers before finally heading inside the church. The church has only one stone pulpit and a stone bench, and Gantlos began to inwardly shiver. His shivering is caused by what, or who in this case, is on the bench. From the back, Gantlos can see long, blonde hair and a tall, skeletal stature. Gantlos walks slowly to go and check out this person.

Gantlos is now trembling like he is suffering from a mild seizure. The face is of himself so emaciated and skeletal that the skin was more like thin paper than skin. He remembers unintentionally of many, cruel winters ago of how he lost his family and nearly himself to starvation. The body before him changes, in his mind, to that of his father. His father was the first one in his family to succumb to starvation. Gantlos got his looks from his father, but none of the man's jovial personality. He was a hunter that unfortunately sold his meat to Fairies at an incredibly low price which caused his death, his wife's death, and almost all of his sons' death except one. Gantlos watched as his father withered away to a bag of bones because of his inability to be unkind to Fairies. His mother was the next one to die. He got his eyes and cold personality from her. In the end, she knew that her children will follow her soon and so she gave up trying to find food for them. She was right for the most part. His little brothers all perished after their mother. They were too young to hunt so they died as agonizingly slow like their parents. Gantlos survived because he hunted for himself and ate as much meat as he could find in that desolate winter. He survived because he hunted and refused to be kind to the Earth Fairies. Yet, he watched as his family crumbled and met a cold end as punishment.

"I got you!" Gantlos jumps back like he was touched by an angel. Duman's voice almost came through in Gantlos's mind, but Gantlos is still lost in his dark, frozen past. Duman shape-shifts back into himself with a crazy grin on his face because he was able to make the stoic, invulnerable Gantlos jump back like a scared, little girl! Duman planned on ripping Gantlos to pieces for his cowardice, but he notices Gantlos is trembling. Now, Duman feels scared because he believes that Gantlos is trembling from holding back his rage. Duman was going to take a step back until he takes a glance at Gantlos's face. There are tears streaking his face, and Duman decides to take a step closer to Gantlos. He takes another step, and another, and another until he can finally feel the heat of Gantlos's body. Gantlos's heart is beating slowly like it is reflecting Gantlos's paralyzed state. Duman does something that no one has done to Gantlos since. Duman wraps his arms awkwardly around Gantlos in a surprising and touching embrace.

"Duman…." Gantlos murmurs as he is finally delivered from his hungry past. It is strange for someone like Duman to give a hug. Duman is not an affectionate person except with the occasional ruffling of his hair by Ogron. It is even stranger for someone like Gantlos to be on the receiving end of a hug.

"I am sorry." Duman buries his face into Gantlos's chest so that Gantlos cannot see Duman blushing. Gantlos's eyes widen at Duman's apology. He has never heard Duman apologize before without being threatened by Ogron.

"I need to apologize too. I should have not intervened so much, but I cannot lose you." Gantlos has lost his family once, and his new family is something that Gantlos is not willing to part with for a moment. His new family has not aired their pasts so far, but Gantlos begins by telling Duman about his family and how he lost them in a cruel, harsh winter. Duman actually smiles by the end of Gantlos's sad tale, and Gantlos is confused by this.

"I am glad that your family died if they lived then I would not have you." Duman jumps up and plants a kiss on Gantlos's helmet-covered forehead. Duman runs off like he is on fire. Now it is Gantlos's turn to smile like a fool.


End file.
